This past weekend we braced for Hurricane Irma as it appeared that Sarasota may be in its path. Wind and rain pelted our homes Sunday night. On Monday many of us dealt with power outages. As ours came back on, Tuesday my mother was ready to return to her home. As we took a ride down the newly opened Lorraine Road, we saw rows of uprooted newly planted trees.

As we drove from Lakewood Ranch, to Sarasota, out to Siesta Key, and then through downtown Sarasota, we noticed that most of the destruction left behind was fallen newly planted trees that had not been established yet and also older mature trees. This row of trees will be easy to set right up again, but many many trees did not fair so well in our neighborhoods. And now the clean up begins.

In a bowl…ing alley! Labor Day weekend was the annual “Good Old Days” event at Sarasota Lanes. Bowling, beer, soda, and hotdog prices were rolled back to one dollar each. Word was put out in our new Del Webb Lakewood Ranch neighborhood to introduce new residents to our local bowling alley. We filled seven lanes and will most certainly return another day!

Finally! I always felt we should have “Sarasota” painted on the huge blue water tower that is seen from I-75, located between the Fruitville Rd and University Parkway exits, and finally it’s happened! Sarasota wants to put their best foot forward as they host the 2017 World Rowing Championship at Nathan Benderson Park later this month and it was planned to have the “Visit Sarasota County” logos painted on the tower before the event. This is the first time this rowing regatta event has been held in the United States in over 20 years. Some 42,000 athletes and supporters from all over the world are anticipated to be here to enjoy the World Rowing Championship and experience all that Sarasota County has to offer.

According to the Florida Department of Transportation, approximately 134,000 vehicles pass the tower daily. The two logos painted on the tower will be visible to drivers going both north and southbound. Local tourism officials hope that the logos on the tower will entice drivers to stop off in Sarasota. From Nathan Benderson Park, it is visible in the backdrop across the interstate.

My mother-in-law, Laura, turned 96 this week. Oh my, the stories she could tell you. With these hands, she swung a bat on a baseball team in the “League of her Own” era and rolled her way into the Bowlers Hall of Fame. Laura and her husband, Everett, also owned a local auto body paint store here in Sarasota for years (Pete’s Auto Paints) and she mixed thousands of gallons of paint!